AlexxInNY:
the ones i have fitted have braided hoses on them, it would have to be very sharp road debris to cut them open, i’ve been running with these units on for over 3 years now and have never had a problem with loss of air except when the daft lads at scania go around and let air out deliberately, the device incorporates a emergency shut off valve that prevents both tyres from deflating should a blow out occur, when you employ drivers most only drive, some may check the oil and lights but most never check the tyre pressures, with the crossfire fitted a tyre pressure check is a quick glance at the window of the guage, it doesn’t get much easier than that does it?
My company has a system such as this mounted to about half of our trailers. Trust me-those check valves don’t always work. Since 99% of trailers in the US run dual tyres, drivers pay little attention to having a blowout or flat on the trailer, assuming that the other tyre will carry them at least a few miles for repair. Imagine their surpise when 2 miles down the road, they notice sparks coming from the rim…
perhaps thats the difference then, drivers over here that find a flat tyre on the trailer or the unit will call out a tyre fitter and have it replaced or repaired, we don’t run around with flat tyres, first and foremost is the penalties involved should the law stop you, secondly we (most of us) don’t change tyres ourselves we call someone out to do it.
another thing is that we don’t have many twin wheeled trailers, most of ours are now super singles running with air suspension rather than twin wheeled steel sprung suspension axles.
as for blowouts, those are normally caused by poor maintenance on the tyres in the first place, especially so with vehicles that travel onto building sites, tips, quarries, farms and other areas with rough ground and untold hidden objects lying just below or upon the surface.
a good tyre which is well maintained should not blowout unless it develops a fault like a spike through the side wall, a large screw through the tread, both of these can be hidden from the drivers view either by the tyre fault being hidden by mud, sludge or just being on top of the fault but any tyre maintainence person will spin the tyre to inspect it.
a previous company i worked for used to have remoulds on the drive axles but this was found to be more expensive in the long run because the tread would often part from the tyre casing in hot temperatures, causing drivers to be sitting around waiting for tyre fitters and then a charge for the tyre recovery and the extra costs involved in man hours chasing up a refund on the tyre because of it’s faults.